December 2015

New name highlights greater possibilities in custom footwear and insole design and manufacture

Autodesk Footwear is a provider of software solutions for the digital creation of footwear, from design concepts through manufacture, including solutions for the data capture, design, and manufacture of custom orthotic insoles. Autodesk has confirmed its commitment to digital footwear creation by unveiling the new Autodesk Footwear group, which is fully focused on supporting designers and manufacturers of all types of footwear and custom insoles.

The San Rafael, CA-based company acquired Delcam in February 2014, and the range of products from the previously named Delcam Custom Orthotic Insoles and Delcam Crispin lines were brought together in October 2015 under the Autodesk Footwear brand. The new group offers customers these software solutions, plus its own technologies and services for the footwear industry.

The new group will continue to have a high level of investment in dedicated products and services for the footwear and custom insole creation market. Businesses working with Autodesk Footwear will benefit from a team of developers and sales and support staff, who together offer vast industry knowledge and experience in all areas of footwear and custom insole development, said Chris Lawrie, director of Autodesk Footwear.

Autodesk is committed to the current market and to “The Future of Making Things,” the company’s vision of future human and business interactions with engineering, design, analysis, and collaborative technology. To achieve its vision and goals, Autodesk is combining solutions for the design and manufacture of production footwear (a name Autodesk uses to distinguish custom and orthopedic shoes from fashion and sport footwear) and custom orthotic insoles. This enables the creation of a complete shoe, from last creation to complex upper and sole design and the incorporation of custom insoles.

Autodesk is renowned for its highquality design and manufacturing software across a wide range of sectors, and the footwear team is looking forward to the opportunities that having a wider portfolio of products will bring to the industry, said Lawrie.

“We are definitely unique among other software suppliers in the O&P market, not only because of our size but also in our huge commitment to research and development and our ability to provide solutions for the complete shoe,” said Maida Koller, vice president of sales for Autodesk Footwear North America.

Identifying and targeting new market opportunities has led to the continuous development and introduction of innovative products.

For the custom orthotic insoles creation group of products, this includes development of the iQube and iQube mini (foot scanners built on technology designed to measure high-precision parts in automotive and aerospace industries) and the software design and manufacturing solutions, OrthoModel and OrthoMill.

“Autodesk’s development of these products results in a simple yet powerful software tool that practitioners can use to design and manufacture any type and complexity of corrective or accommodative custom insole,” Koller said. “We continue to strive to make our products better with new updates and automation so that our solutions are clean, fast, easy, precise, and profitable for our customers.”

Autodesk Footwear continues to bring together industry leaders in technology, academia, and custom orthotic insole and footwear creation at its international technology forums, the Ortho Technology Forum (OTF) and Footwear Technology Forum (FTF).

In 2015, Autodesk Footwear hosted four technology forums across three continents that brought together academic and industry leaders in O&P, orthopedics, and production footwear. For the first time, the European 2015 OTF and FTF events took place together to reflect a growing trend in the industry to consider the shoe shape when designing insoles and the design of the insole when designing shoes.

At these events, which emphasize the open exchange of information, guest speakers discuss new ideas for strategic business improvements, such as methods of increasing productivity and reducing manufacturing costs. “OTF guest speakers are leading the way in developing and using different types of technology and finding applications for your business,” Koller said.

The 2016 North American Regional OTF will once again be held as a presymposium event to the 2016 Pedorthic Association of Canada (PAC) Symposium. The OTF event is scheduled for April 7 as part of the April 8-9 PAC symposium at the Quebec City Convention Centre in Canada. The 2016 FTF North America will draw international speakers and attendees and cover technologies that aid in the creation of both insoles and footwear. This event is scheduled for May 24-25 at District Hall in Boston, MA.

Nigel Beard, PhD, chief technical officer of Feetz, the digital cobbler, delivered a presentation at the 2015 North American OTF in Vancouver, Canada, and said, “You can see different people that have specialties in different areas of footwear actually come together in one space, it’s unique and very unusual. You wouldn’t find that in a normal footwear company, you wouldn’t find that in a normal orthotic company; that they understand all the way from the design to production of the shoe and everything in between.”